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Friday, December 30, 2011

Champagne in Crime Fiction

If you follow this blog--or if you know me--you know that I'm a list maker. So I was putting together a list of different chocolatiers who make champagne truffles for a New Year's Eve post on DyingforChocolate.com, and I thought there must be several mysteries in which Champagne has a prominent role. I've come up with four titles. Surely there must be more. I know that Champagne figures in Dashiell Hammett's Thin Man books. I remember Nick and Nora drinking lots of champagne in the movies. So here's a short list of 'Champagne' books to toast on New Year's Eve. Please comment with any missed titles.

Champagne for One by Nero Wolfe Champagne Fuhrern by Kare Hallden (in Swedish)Champagne for Buzzards by Phyllis SmallmanDry Bones by Peter MaySparkling Cyanide by Agatha ChristieChampagne Blues by Ivan and Nat Lyons Tug of War by Barbara Cleverly

And here's a mystery related story about Champagne, especially for history mystery folks. This was reported in The Daily Mail (UK) July 2010. Talk about a vintage that holds its own!

Divers have discovered what is thought to be the world's oldest drinkable champagne in a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea. They have already tested out the contents of one bottle and claim it tastes 'fantastic' despite dating back to the late 18th century. Diving instructor Christian Ekstrom said the bottles are believed to be from the 1780s and likely were part of a cargo destined for Russia. 'We brought up the bottle to be able to establish how old the wreck was. We didn't know it would be champagne. We thought it was wine or something,' he said. Ekstrom said the divers were overjoyed when they popped the cork on their boat after hauling the bubbly from a depth of 200 feet (60 meters). 'It tasted fantastic. It was a very sweet champagne, with a tobacco taste and oak,' Ekstrom said. The divers discovered the shipwreck near the Aland Islands, between Sweden and Finland. About 30 bottles are believed to be aboard the sunken vessel.Read More Here.

And, then, of course, there's always Sabering Champagne, as opposed to savoring Champagne. Sabering is opening the champagne bottle with a saber. A talent a mystery reader might have!

Thanks for this list. It got me looking into French books set in the Champagne region and I found some I'm going to look into for future possible translation at Le French Book. One French author has a PI there. Can't wait to read them. Thanks for the idea.